The present invention relates to composite comestible products of the type used, for example, for freshening the breath.
In the field of breath-freshening products (although the invention is not limited to this specific domain of use) composite products are commonly used which include a solid, paste, creamy, gelatinous or liquid-based, for example a sugar syrup, core covered in a shell, for example, of sugar or of a similar compact mass.
A typical example of such a product is the breath-freshening product sold under the brand name TIC TAC by companies of the Ferrero group. This product is constituted by a liquorice core covered with a sugar shell by means of a tumbler-coating process.
The usual manner of eating a product of this type ensures that once it is placed in the mouth, the outer coating is attacked by saliva, thereby dissolving within a certain lapse of time and releasing the flavour-carrying agents inside the mouth. Once the shell is consumed, the user consumes the core in substantially the same way, this also dissolving under the effect of saliva and releasing the respective taste-giving agents. Naturally, this manner of consumption is altered if, instead of allowing the product to dissolve in the mouth, the user chews it, thereby fragmenting it and mixing together the shell and the core which thus release their respective taste-giving agents virtually simultaneously, although this is affected by their respective characteristics (softness or compactness of the component, nature and relative strength of the taste-giving agents, etc.).
This phenomenon has already been analysed in European patent application 0 940 084 (used as the model for the preamble of claim 1 and forming part of the prior art solely by virtue of EPC Article 54.3) which pointed out that, in order to give the taste of a product, or of a component thereof, a degree of persistence once it was placed in the mouth, thus enabling the breath-freshening effect to last some time (in the case of products specifically intended for this purpose), it is necessary to give the product a special consistency. This in order to ensure that the taste-giving agents are released slowly, lasting while the product is xe2x80x9csuckedxe2x80x9d, that is while the mass of the product is consumed, attacked and softened by saliva. To this end, it was observed that when this arrangement was adopted the organoleptic effect of the product was generally not immediate: in practice, in order for the product to develop the desired refreshing action and full taste, it is necessary to wait some time, which induces a tendency in the consumer to accelerate this effect by chewing the product, with possible negative consequences. A hard product can offer considerable resistance to chewing, which can prove unpleasant or, in the case of consumers with sensitive teeth, even damaging. In addition, by fragmenting the product, chewing increases the effect of saliva on it: as a result the product is consumed faster and the delivery of taste lasts less than it would if the product were simply sucked.
In order to make it possible for a product of the type specified above to provide a rapid freshening effect as soon as the product is placed in the mouth while ensuring, at the same time, that this effect proves long-lasting, the arrangement according to the aforesaid earlier European patent application proposes the manufacture of a composite food product which includes, in an assembly to be eaten as a whole:
a first part, usually constituted by at least one sweet comprising a shell surrounding a generally soft core, this part being able to release its respective taste-giving agents as soon as it comes into contact with saliva in the mouth, and
a second part, usually constituted by a pastille or tablet constituted by a compact mass of sugar or similar comestible product, which includes second taste-giving agents which once in the mouth are released over time.
The object of the present invention is to develop further the mechanism for controlling the gradual release of the various taste-giving agents, which formed the basis of this previous European patent application. This, both in relation to comestible products such as food products, not necessarily confectionery (in addition to the products for freshening the breath referred to above, one could mention, for example, savoury snack products and the like), and in relation to comestible products for medicinal or other therapeutic use. In particular, this additional field of application might be affected by a problem linked to the fact that one or more components having a pharmacological effect might incorporate, or themselves constitute agents providing an unpleasant taste (or xe2x80x9caftertastexe2x80x9d) such as, for example, bitterness or a sensation of dryness, which could be advantageously masked, or at least countered, by the controlled release of another taste-giving agent.
This object is achieved according to the invention by providing a composite comestible product having the characteristics specifically claimed in the Claims which follow.